Opera targets mobile with email acquisition

Opera has bought Australian email provider Fastmail.fm, the two firms announced today.

The acquisition is designed to strengthen Opera's mobile email offering.

Fastmail.fm has been around for 10 years. It said it decided to sell up in light of "an increasingly competitive market", which means it needs Opera's resources to improve its products and infrastructure.

Customers who don't want Opera to provide their email are invited to cancel their accounts here.

"The newest generation of web users will discover the web through a mobile device," said Opera's chief strategy officer Rolf Assev.

"Having world-class messaging capability alongside a rich and compelling Web experience is essential. By combining forces, Opera and FastMail.fm can offer messaging on any device."